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CHESAPEAKE BAY BASICS
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Chesapeake as an Estuary
An estuary is a semi-enclosed body of water that has a free connection with the sea and within which seawater is diluted from fresh water runoff from the land. .
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Chesapeake as an Estuary
Estuaries have more food for organisms, but the organisms usually have to deal with large temperature and salinity changes, high silt content and pollution.
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What does that mean? This unique environment is home to many different plants and animals. In an estuary, salt water and fresh water mix.
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4 Estuary Types Drowned River Valley Bar-Built Estuary
Tectonic Estuary Fjords
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Drowned River Valley This is the most common type of estuary.
Forms during an ice age from glacier melt. The Chesapeake Bay is a drowned river valley. (12,000 – 18,000 years ago).
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Bar-Built Estuaries Found where sand bars and barrier islands form.
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Bar-Built Estuaries The shallow water behind these barrier islands forms low salinity estuaries.
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Tectonic Estuaries These estuaries form where land sank or subsided.
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Fjords! Fjords were created when retreating glaciers cut deep in the earth.
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Fjords! Where in the United States might we find fjords?
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Estuary Types
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Facts About The Chesapeake Bay
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The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States.
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The bay is shallow. Can you guess its average depth?
106 ft. 56 ft 32 ft. 21 ft. 14ft. 9ft.
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THE ANSWER! 21 feet is the correct answer. The deepest spot in the bay is 174 feet near Annapolis Md.
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A watershed is the drainage area for the bay.
Can you name the 6 states that make up the watershed of the Chesapeake Bay?
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Virginia Maryland West Virginia Delaware New York Pennsylvania
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Chesapeake Bay Watershed
New York Pennsylvania Maryland Delaware West Virginia District of Columbia Virginia
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Virginia’s Watersheds
3 Different Watersheds The Chesapeake Bay The Gulf of Mexico The North Carolina Sounds
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The water from over 50 rivers empties into the Bay
The water from over 50 rivers empties into the Bay. Can you name the 5 major rivers that flow into the bay?
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From South to North James York Rappahannock Potomac Susquehanna
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Other Facts The Susquehanna River provides about 50% of the fresh water coming into the Bay. The river empties an average of 19 million gallons of water per minute.
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